Fashions: Year In Review 2006

Emaciated actresses and models and the “size-zero debate” captured fashion headlines, and model Kate Moss, who had entered drug rehab at the end of 2005, made an astonishing comeback during 2006.

Pale shades such as gray and nude pink proved fashionable, and red became a perky antidote to black in 2006. Tartan made a comeback for autumn—spearheaded in May by actress Sarah Jessica Parker, who modeled an off-the-shoulder Alexander McQueen tartan evening dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute gala in New York City. Patent as well as metallic leathers were polished additions to luxury footwear. The critical hits of the year included an affordable capsule spring-summer collection of flirty blouses and dresses by textile designer Celia Birtwell, widow of British designer Ossie Clark, produced for the high-street megachain Topshop; a tunic-and-narrow-trousers ensemble produced for autumn-winter in charcoal flannel by Yves Saint Laurent’s designer in chief Stefano Pilati; and a Burberry fox-fur-trimmed trench coat. Nicolas Ghesquière’s autumn-winter collection for Balenciaga proved the tour de force of the international collections. “Short, molded checked tweed suits with stand away collars, rounded coats and mind-blowingly wrought evening dresses radiated a powerful modernity,” wrote American Vogue’s contributing editor Sarah Mower soon after the collection debuted. “Ghesquière pushed his design to a place no one else has reached.”

It was size, however—more than any trend—that preoccupied the fashion industry. The “size-zero debate”—based on the theory that painfully thin modern fashion icons were having a dangerous influence on admiring young women, some of whom were becoming vulnerable to anorexia nervosa—raged as emaciated young actresses and fashion models appeared in increasing numbers in the tabloid press. Singled out for criticism was Rachel Zoe—an influential Los Angeles stylist who groomed young, lean, and newly chic superstars Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Keira Knightly, and Mischa Barton. Zoe’s flair extended to launching numerous 2006 fashion trends, including skinny jeans, vintage tops, headbands, oversized sunglasses, and big bags. The Los Angeles Times, however, blamed her for “single-handedly bringing anorexia back.” Reed-slim Zoe refuted the allegation that she affected the eating habits of her clients, telling London’s The Sunday Times, “I don’t think it is fair to say that I’m responsible because I’m a thin person, that because I’m influencing their style I’m influencing what they eat.”

“Size zero” became front-page news in September when model Luisel Ramos collapsed on a runway during Uruguay’s Fashion Week moments after being applauded by spectators; she later died from heart failure. News emerged that she had fasted to lose weight as she readied for the show. As a result, coordinators of Madrid’s Fashion Week soon banned from the event models whose body mass index (BMI, a measurement of body fat according to weight and height) fell below 18, which was considered unhealthy. The International Herald Tribune noted that many top models had a BMI that was in the 14–16 range. Before the start of mid-September’s London’s Fashion Week, the Madrid ban prompted British designers Sir Paul Smith and Allegra Hicks, as well as members of Parliament, including Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, and health experts, to speak out against “size-zero girls.” Hilary Riva, chief executive of the British Fashion Council, canceled the photo call that traditionally opened London’s Fashion Week. Just prior to Milan’s Fashion Week, Tiziano Maiolo, the city councillor responsible for fashion, claimed that there were “too many skeletons on the runways,” while Mayor Letizia Moratti urged Italian designers to cast healthy-looking models in their runway shows. Following the death in November of model Ana Carolina Reston from complications of anorexia (she reportedly weighted about 40 kg [88 lb] at the time), American and Italian fashion councils launched a review of their guidelines. In late December the Italian fashion industry issued a manifesto that required models to submit medical documents that verified their health before they could be hired. In addition, the hiring of models under the age of 16 was prohibited. A solution to the size-zero debate remained elusive.

Model Kate Moss—another controversial fashion industry figure—waged a spectacular career comeback. Though Moss had been immediately fired by Swedish retail chain H&M after 2005’s “Cocaine Kate” drug scandal—sparked by the London Daily Mirror newspaper’s photographic display of her snorting a line of cocaine through a five-pound note—by autumn 2006 she was fronting 14 advertising campaigns for sought-after luxury brands, including Burberry, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, and Roberto Cavalli. Moss’s annual salary was estimated to have nearly tripled—from £11 million to £30 million (£1 = about $1.85). Her ubiquity in the press and at an array of social events suggested that a massive public-relations offensive was under way to rehabilitate her battered image. Nevertheless, the fashion world championed her as an “enduring icon,” while newspapers obsessively chronicled her trendsetting power. Moss appeared on the prestigious September covers of Vanity Fair—the first edition on which the magazine’s new fashion and style director, Michael Roberts, had worked—and British Vogue. It was also announced that she would design a line of clothing for Topshop.

British GQ singled out Moss’s rock star boyfriend, Pete Doherty, on its best-dressed list, commending as influential his habitual style, which involved three elements—a porkpie hat, a slim-fit suit, and a skinny tie. The Giorgio Armani-clad British actor Clive Owen topped GQ’s list—one of several such registers published in many glossy magazines—and in May Lancôme, the French cosmetics line owned by L’Oreal, announced that Owen, 41, would front advertising campaigns promoting its men’s grooming products. Lancôme also appointed Canadian supermodel Daria Werbowy to be the newest “face” of its cosmetics line and Hypnôse fragrance. The 67th International Best- Dressed List published by Vanity Fair included U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, owing to her penchant for wearing pearls and subtle Armani suits.

Menswear designer Thom Browne experienced continued success peddling a sophisticated $3,600 “snug-fit” bespoke suit from his studio in New York City’s meat-packing district. “Men Only”—Paul Smith’s autumn-winter women’s wear collection based on gentlemen’s tailoring—was one of many influenced by the modern unisex look pioneered by Hedi Slimane, Dior Homme’s shrewd designer. For Dior Homme’s autumn-winter collection, Slimane included gender-bending vertiginous boots, with 5.71-cm (2.25-in) heels. Belgian designer Veronique Branquinho produced for the Italian label Complice a “partner look,” based on similar staples for men and women, including tailored trousers and trench coats. The French footwear line Repetto revealed that men accounted for 7% of the sales of its popular ballet slipper—the shoe model that along with the chunky platform and thick-soled wedge proved popular for women.

Footwear standouts on the international fashion runways included two futuristic styles of summer leather sandals—a pair adorned with mirror heels and another featuring heels made of metal and embellished with polished stones. The talented French footwear designer Pierre Hardy produced them for Balenciaga. Rupert Sanderson, the Mayfair, London-based footwear designer known for his sophisticated modern reinterpretations of classic shoes, achieved a huge degree of popularity and was dubbed the “new Manolo” [Blahnik] by the style press. Ferragamo introduced for autumn the Greta Garbo Ostrich Shoe, a light brown lace-up ankle-shoe boot featuring a rounded toe, which the late Salvatore Ferragamo had originally designed for the 1930s MGM movie queen. An array of “ugly shoes” proved to be summer street-wear favourites. They included the unisex Croc—a lightweight rubberized clog with an adjustable heel strap that was made from proprietary closed-cell resin, an oil by-product—the orthopedic-like Wörishofer clog, and the athletic Kisumu sandal, designed to increase its wearer’s muscle activity.

“Balenciaga Paris,” a retrospective fashion exhibition staged (July 6, 2006–Jan. 28, 2007) at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris, celebrated the enduring appeal of the venerated avant-garde fashion house. The exhibit featured 147 ensembles produced over a 50-year period by its late Spanish founder, Cristobal Balenciaga, and an additional 23 creations designed by Ghesquière during his nine years at the helm. In September Bloomsbury published The Beautiful Fall, Alicia Drake’s comprehensive account of the 1970s Paris fashion scene. It focused on the rivalry between that era’s two key players—Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. The October release of Donald Spoto’s biography Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn resurrected its subject as a style icon 13 years after her death; Gap featured Hepburn in a television advertising campaign that promoted its skinny black pants. “Audrey Hepburn represents a kind of elegance that may be especially appreciated in an era of torn jeans,” commented Spoto. “Her combination of modesty and simplicity are a wonderful corrective in these times of vulgar and empty celebrity.”

Meryl Streep delivered an impressive performance as Miranda Priestly, a fashion magazine editor inspired by Vogue’s Anna Wintour in the hit screen adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada. In July Odile Gilbert—famed for having created the towering 17th-century-inspired hairdos for Kirsten Dunst’s title character role in Sofia Coppola’s biopic Marie Antoinette as well as theatrical looks for the runway shows produced by Chanel’s Lagerfeld, Christian Dior’s John Galliano, and Jean Paul Gaultier, among others—became the first hairstylist to receive the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government. Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, winner of a 2005 Praemium Imperiale, added a 2006 Kyoto Prize for lifetime achievement to his list of honours.

A new wave of talented designers achieved industry recognition. Giambattista Valli, the former ready-to-wear director of Emanuel Ungaro, had his own-name line picked up by upscale American department stores Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York. Based on a romantic sophistication inspired by Italian style legends Marella Agnelli and Monica Vitti, the collection’s standout numbers were flattering, voluminous strapless cocktail dresses. While French Vogue championed Ungaro’s new designer, Peter Dundas, who worked behind the scenes at Roberto Cavalli, American Vogue labeled as “girl of the moment” Georgina Chapman, who with Keren Craig made up the design duo behind Marchesa—a line of red-carpet couture favoured by an array of Hollywood beauties, including Penelope Cruz and Cate Blanchett. The Guardian newspaper attributed Marchesa’s popularity among celebrities to the influence of Chapman’s boyfriend—Harvey Weinstein, the film-industry tycoon and former cochairman of the film-production company Miramax. The talk of July was the Paris presentation, staged off the official haute couture schedule, of Rodarte, a painstakingly crafted retro-chic ready-to-wear line produced by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, twentysomething siblings from Pasadena, Calif. Lucy Sykes Rellie—the sister of best-selling British novelist Plum Sykes—launched Lucy Sykes Woman, a New York line of up-market casuals and an offshoot of the “classic luxurious” Lucy Sykes Baby children’s wear.

Heightening the demand for deluxe accessories was an array of expensive, opulent handbags—or “it bags”—produced by every major fashion brand; they included the feminine boxy Robert by Marc Jacobs, the half-circle Muse by Yves Saint Laurent, and a brown leather Dior shoulder bag called the Gaucho. Spring witnessed the debut of Tom Ford Eyewear—the range of oversized sunglasses produced by the former Gucci designer—and the relaunch of Modern Creation Munich—the pricey German leather-goods line bearing the MCM logo; it was overseen by Michael Michalsky, the savvy executive who had served 10 years as the global creative director of Adidas.

From late August, H&M sold a sleek tracksuit produced in collaboration with Madonna. The pop star sealed her reputation as the music industry’s reigning style force by displaying through her summer 2006 Confessions concert tour cutting-edge theatrical stage ensembles jointly produced by her personal stylist, the costume designer Arianne Phillips, and her preferred couturier, Jean Paul Gaultier.

Steven Meisel continued to demonstrate his unrivaled ability to translate hot-button issues into striking fashion photography with the publication in the September issue of Italian Vogue of “State of Emergency”—a lengthy photo-essay inspired by symptoms of the ongoing war on terrorism. The piece depicted invasive airport security checks as well as the notorious images that captured the torture and abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. “The photographs endorse the very taboos they violate,” wrote academic Joanna Bourke, criticizing Meisel’s juxtaposition of fashion and tragic crisis situations. In July, Kabul hosted what was referred to as Afghanistan’s first fashion show in years. Meanwhile, at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosque, an innovative blue chador—featuring new functional sleeves—debuted at Iran’s first-ever Islamic dress fair.

In September, Paolo Melin Anderson departed from his Marni senior designer position to become designer in chief at Chloé, replacing British designer Phoebe Philo, who had resigned in January. Simon Fuller, the British music mogul and creator of the American Idol television program, announced his principal investment in 19 RM, a fashion venture involving the French designer Roland Mouret, who in October 2005 had quit his eponymous label owing to a creative fallout with his financial backers. After the surprise sacking of Olivier Theyskens from his post as designer of the French label Rochas, the 25-year-old Belgian—a darling of the fashion press—was named creative director of Nina Ricci in September after Swede Lars Nilsson quit in late August. It was rumoured that Nilsson might join Oscar de la Renta.

The fashion world mourned the deaths during the year of French-born American designer Oleg Cassini, American model Dorothea Towles Church, and American shoe designer Beth Levine, who, as a megaforce in fashion footwear during the 1970s in New York City, created footwear for Halston and Bill Blass, boots for singer Nancy Sinatra, and shoes for songstress Liza Minnelli.

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